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Tim Noakes’ followers may love his dietary advice, but the Professor has again taken flak from professionals. This time his advice was labelled as “criminal” by Johannesburg based cardiologist Anthony Dalby.

The comment came about during a debate held at the Vitality Summit in Sandton. Dalby explained that two of his patients had stopped taking their cholesterol lowering medication only for their cholesterol levels to go up sharply.

In Noakes’ book Real Meal Revolution, he advocates for a diet that incorporates more fat, while drastically cutting down on carbohydrates.

Noakes is not convinced that cholesterol causes heart disease, but instead believes that insulin secreted due to high carb diets were to blame.

Despite the disagreements, the experts did seem to find some common ground.

“We’re [all] saying eat less. We agree on the need to avoid sugar, processed foods and refined carbohydrates. We need to have more whole foods,” said Heart and Stroke Foundation CEO Dr Vash Mungal-Singh.

Grotes asked Dalby if – in the longer term – we could see thousands of people becoming unhealthy because they followed the Noakes Diet. Dalby responded that he does not know, but he is worried that this might be the case.